Costco Wholesale Co. (COST) To Go Ex-Dividend on July 26th

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 10th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a dividend of 1.16 per share by the retailer on Friday, August 9th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th.

Costco Wholesale has raised its dividend by an average of 12.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Costco Wholesale has a dividend payout ratio of 26.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Costco Wholesale to earn $17.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.4%.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 4.3 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $846.59 on Friday. Costco Wholesale has a 1 year low of $530.56 and a 1 year high of $896.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $827.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $752.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $375.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 target price (up from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $796.56.

About Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. The company offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.